News

White House Illustrates Impact of Sequester Cuts to NIH, NSF

Date: February 12, 2013

The White House issued a press release earlier this week outlining the effects that sequester cuts will have on federal agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). According to the Office of Management and Budget, the NIH would be “forced to delay or halt vital scientific projects and make hundreds of fewer research awards. Since each research award supports up to seven research positions, several thousand personnel could lose their jobs.”

Groups in the research community are advised to use the estimates from the White House press release in their advocacy as this represents the latest “official” calculation of the impact of sequestration. President Barack Obama noted in his weekly address, however, that finding a balanced approach to deficit spending reduction is a superior alternative to putting a halt to lifesaving research via sequestration. “If the sequester is allowed to go forward, thousands of Americans who work in fields like national security, education or clean energy are likely to be laid off. Firefighters and food inspectors could also find themselves out of work – leaving our communities vulnerable. Programs like Head Start would be cut, and lifesaving research into diseases like cancer and Alzheimer’s could be scaled back,” he said. A full transcript of the President’s speech is available here.

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